“During the trial, each missile aimed at intercepting a toe body supported by a PTA flown a couple of minutes earlier from another launch complex, at a definite altitude over the sea,” sources said.

While the Air-force version of the missile has already been inducted, the Army version is in the final stage of induction into the armed forces.

Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, Akash has a strike range of 25 km and can carry a warhead of 60 kgs.

It has the capability to target aircraft up to 30 km away and is packed with a battery that can track and attack several targets simultaneously.

Defence experts have compared Akash to the MIM-104 Patriot missile system of USA.